Prosecutors have until 3:30 p.m. Monday to file charges against Edward Young, who was arrested on suspicion of fourth-degree arson and reckless endangerment.

A 69-year-old Weld County man could face an arson charge after police say he tried to burn down a trailer he owned because the woman renting it from him did not want to move out.

Fort Lupton police responded Wednesday to the 700 block of Grand Avenue, where Edward Young owned a trailer. They found Barbara Parsons moving her two dogs and a cat out of the trailer, according to the affidavit for Young's arrest. She told them Young, who lived with her in the trailer, doused it in lamp oil. When it didn't ignite, he sprayed the stove area with charcoal lighting fluid and set it on fire. Parsons said she "was scared, because she did not know if she was going to get out in time with her pets," the report stated.

Young was upset, she said, because he "wanted her out of the trailer even though he knew she had nowhere else to go." He wanted to sell the trailer, but to do that he needed it empty. In the weeks leading up to Wednesday, she told police, things had been tense between the two of them.

When police examined the trailer, they noted "the kitchen floor, dining area and hallway floor glistened with lamp oil." They also found an empty jug of lamp oil near the stove.

When police spoke with Young, he at first denied doing anything with lamp oil, the affidavit states, but then said he "did not start 'the fire' " and added "it did not light."

When police asked him to explain the inconsistency, he asked to speak with a lawyer.

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He said something else as officers booked him into the Weld County Jail, according to the affidavit.

"You know how old people are," he said. "We scare people. That's what I was doing, just trying to scare her."

The Weld District Attorney's office has until Monday to file charges against Young.

What’s next

Prosecutors have until 3:30 p.m. Monday to file charges against Edward Young, who was arrested on suspicion of fourth-degree arson and reckless endangerment.